The Fox's Wedding
by Trenchcoatgirl-Kyo
Summary: A short NaruHina fic based on the myths of Kitsunes spiriting young girls away. Short story. Twoshot.
1. Chapter 1

The Fox's Wedding

Author's note: In Japan, a sun shower, rain on a sunny day, means that a kitsune is getting married, so that's the inspiration for the story. It's a little weird, I guess, but the idea is that Hinata is going to get married so she goes to a shrine to pray and while she's there she meets a fox-boy (Naruto) and gets spirited away. Hee. Oh, and in the beginning, Naruto has the first line, and he's talking to Gaara, Gaara being a tanuki (raccoon dog). That's a silly image. Inari is the God of foxes and rice and has dominion over kitsune. And Maitreyopts/ Ahjeta's eyes are from King of Hell, meaning I'm not sure about the authenticity of them in myth, but I thought they made a nice substitution for the Byakugan. Okay, here ya go! Enjoy! R&R!

AN (after editing): So I edited and decided to repost this. It really is a pretty good little one-shot. And I wrote a second chapter. I'm not as happy with the second chapter, as I am with the first, but I figured it deserved a continuation. Please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or King of Hell, by the way. Just to clarify.

"Smell that?"

"Smell what?"

"I smell it" the one who had spoken first said to himself.

"Smell what?" the second one asked again, a bit irritated this time.

"Someone around here has the Maitreyopts."

"You mean Ahjeta's eyes?"

"Yeah, yeah, the eyes! 'M gonna go see" the first speaker wore a mask over his face and had golden hair.

"If you miss the wedding, Inari will kill you" the tanuki replied. His mask was hung on a string around his neck, covering his red hair.

"I'll be back in time!"

Gentle, graceful tapping echoed on stone as the young women meandered down the path. Her white kimono contrasted sharply with the red leaves and equally red arches under which she walked. She looked to be about fifteen, and her eyes were downcast.

For at least the fiftieth time that afternoon, she sighed and whispered "But I don't want to get married. I don't want to…" sadly and under her breath.

She stopped, for a moment, under the crimson leaves and looked up at sky. The blue, red and gold of the fading afternoon was almost too painful. Her hair was short- she was still in mourning for her mother, as the band of charcoal gray at her hem displayed. The few inches of it that just crested her shoulders was inky, with an indigo sheen.

"Not to him. I don't want to get married to him" she sighed again. She continued along the path. Even when her sadness was unshakable, she loved being in this place. The red arches looked so heartbreakingly beautiful against the sky. The winding path under the arches stopped suddenly, and she faced stone steps. She ascended, her kimono flowing smoothly.

As she climbed, she thought of her father, her cousin, her little sister. Even though the house in which she lived with them had been, at times, unhappy, it was still her home and she did not want to leave. Memories are painful whether you hold onto them or let them go, she thought to herself.

She came to the small shrine at the top of the steps. For a second, when she looked up, she thought she saw a boy, her age or a little older, wearing a kitsune mask and dressed in formal clothes, as if he were going to a wedding. The thought of weddings made her grimace, and when she opened her eyes again, he was gone. It's just the leaves falling everywhere, she told herself, they're enough to make anyone see things that aren't there.

She approached the shrine, dedicated to Benten, bringer of happy marriages and many children, and bowed to the Goddess of lovers, a daughter of the dragon king who married another dragon. The girl threw her money into the coin box, then clapped twice. The sound startled birds resting in a nearby tree, and they took off in a scattering of scarlet leaves.

What she was supposed to pray for was many children and to be a good wife- that was what was expected of her.

What she wanted to pray for was for a way to see her mother again, just one last time- a wish anyone might have harbored in her circumstances.

This is what she wished for "Please, let mother be happy! And Benten, Goddess of happy marriages, send me a way out of mine! I don't love him! I never will! I don't want to marry him- Help me, Benten!"

There was a blast of wind, suddenly, a swirl of crimson and scarlet and ruby. She took this as a sign and closed her eyes.

Then there was a gentle bump, like a butterfly landing on her lips. The butterfly parted her lips and there was a fluttering in her mouth and a deep ache in her chest- a longing she didn't recognize, so strange to herself that it was almost frightening. The butterfly broke away. She opened her eyes.

The masked boy was on the other side of the coin box, grinning so widely his eyes were shut, holding his mask in one hand and with the other reaching out to touch her lips, where his had just been. "Shh. It's a charm. Don't tell what you know"

Her cheeks flushed as a soft rain began to fall. When she turned to look, she saw that the sun was still shining.

He grinned again and said "Sorry, but I have to go." He walked past her, down the stone steps.

She placed her finger on her lips, where his finger had touched and his lips had rested. She thought of the home she'd be leaving either way this afternoon, and what was waiting there- A husband she didn't want, a mother that had vanished like the morning mists in the sunlight. The statue of Benten smiled serenely. The girl thought of the sun shower, and of her prayer.

"Wait!" she cried, turning around. The boy was still there, thank the Gods, and his head turned to look at her. She saw that his eyes were heartbreaking blue.

"You're a kitsune, right?" she asked. He grinned.

"Yep" he replied.

"Are-" her voice caught, full of hope and read "Are you the one getting married?" his nose wrinkled.

"Nope"

"Then-" she bit her lip, thinking of her little sister. "Then, please, take me with you!"

The kitsune looked puzzled for a moment. Then he grinned, put his mask on, and reached out his hand. She took it.

Over the years, that shrine gathered a reputation of being haunted. After all, hadn't that young bride disappeared on her wedding day all those years ago while visiting that shrine? And wasn't all they ever found of her a single white ribbon, tied around a tree branch?

No one ever really realized that that ribbon was there as a wish. The old ladies of the village insisted that the girl had been eaten by a fox. And, come to think of it, wasn't it better that they thought it? That no one ever realized that the girl was in a sunny place? After all, exactly one year after the girl disappeared, there was another sun shower. But all the people simply sighed and the old ladies clucked, such a shame, this time last year there should have been a wedding, but instead the fox that ate her is getting married. Funny old world. Only the single ribbon knew the truth.

It was a wish, a hope, a promised- fulfilled. 


	2. Chapter 2

So you've all finally convinced me. I'm doing another chapter. But this is definitely the last one. There were things I wanted to wrap up in it. I also edited the first chapter. I'm really impressed with what I wrote back then.  
Also, I'm finally going to be writing my HinaNaru that I've been putting off for much too long. It's going to be called "Kitsune no Yomeiri", which means "the Fox's wedding", as my way of saying it's a Narutoverse version of this story. So please read it (it should be posted by the 27th.  
And it's in Hanabi's POV. Just to make it clear. Except for the interlude in the middle. 

And this chapter is dedicated to Ivellios, who was the one who really convinced me... and who didn't get all freaked out when I sent her creepy PMs...

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The girl climbed the stairs with a steady gait, her jaw firmly set. She didn't believe what the old women of the village had said about her sister being eaten by a fox, six years ago this fall. That was superstitious nonsense. The women of her mother's family had always come to pray here before weddings. It had always brought them luck. If something had happened to her older sister, it had happened along the road, on the way there or back. But not here.

The girl stopped and took a deep breath. In any case, escaping that pig of a suitor who her father had arranged for her big sister to marry was luck enough. And Benten had smiled upon their family. The suitor had married another girl long before the younger sister was of an age for marriage. Because he was no longer in the way, she was now free to marry someone she truly loved and cared for.

She looked around and then started to climb again. Even though she wouldn't have admitted it, she was hot. The summer sun was not deflected by her light yukata. She tucked her long hair behind her ear.

Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw a flash of something red and gold, but shrugged it off as her imagination. Probably she'd been out in the sun for too long. Subconsciously, she shaded her face, as if protecting her delicate skin from tanning. She sped up a little, to reach the shade of the shrine. Three times she thought she saw something red and gold, but each time she shrugged it off.

She saw the shrine at the top of the stairs and walked under it, greeted by the serene face of Benten. She paused before she threw her money in the box, suddenly struck by the thought that her sister's coins were probably the last ever thrown, until now. She wondered if the coins were still in there.

Surely not. After six years, someone must have cleaned it out. But when she peered in through the slats, she saw a tiny silver gleam. Smiling at the thought, she threw her coins in and then clapped, praying.

"Benten, please, bless this marriage. Thank you so much for it. Please help me to become a good wife and mother" she said out loud, since no one was around "I really love him. And I'm happy for this match. Please let our marriage be a happy one"

Then, on a whim, she added "Onee-chan, please, smile upon us. I miss you. I wish you could be here to see this. Except you'd be married to that pig, so maybe not." She said, and then clapped again.

She heard laughter behind her. A little girl with bright blonde hair, dressed in a red kimono, was standing at the front of the shrine, giggling. And she had her sister's eyes, her family's eyes. The little girl looked like her sister. She had the same delicacy about her features, the same shy smile. The little girl giggled harder.

Then the little girl grinned widely, putting a finger to her lips, and said "Shh, don't tell what you know, Obaa-chan". Then she turned and ran away, displaying the kitsune mask on her tied around her neck.

Within seconds, she'd vanished, leaving "Obaa-chan" to wonder if she'd simply imagined it.

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_"Kaa-chan! Kaa-chan, guess what I saw!"_

_"I'm sure I'll never guess"_

_"I saw Obaa-chan! I saw her!"_

_"What?"_

_"I did, I did! And she said she was getting married! She came to pray!"_

_The woman considered this carefully._

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The girl listened happily as her husband recited his vows of commitment. He squeezed her hand and she squeezed his in return. As the priest droned on, they shared a smile. And it was then, as she was looking over at him, that something outside the open doors of the temple caught her attention.

A man, a woman and two children stood outside. The man, tall and blonde, had his arm around the dark haired woman's waist, her head resting against his chest. One of the children was a little boy, and the other was the little girl from the shrine.

It was then that the girl realized that she was staring at her sister. The woman who was smiling so contentedly was the same woman who was supposed to have vanished. The man beside her grinned widely, the same grin as the little girl, who, she realized, was her sister's daughter. Her niece.

The group of four all waved at her, silently. And then it started to rain softly. They melted away into the rain and the sunshine, and suddenly the wedding was over, and someone was running to shut the doors, and her husband was leading her down the aisle.

"Did you see that?" she asked him.

"What?" he inclining his head to the side.

"Outside. There was a woman…" he raised an eyebrow. She noticed and smiled "Never mind"

_Shh, don't tell what you know…_


End file.
